Mexico City, Mar 8 (EFE).- Cuba will be the host country of the third phase of the Peace Talks Table between the Government of Colombia and the National Liberation Army (ELN).
This was reported by both parties this Wednesday, just a few days after the end of the current cycle that has been held in Mexico City since mid-February.
First contact
“The peace delegations of the Colombian Government and the ELN deeply thank the Cuban Government and its people for the unconditional willingness and fundamental support that, for more than four decades, they have provided to peacebuilding efforts in Colombia,” he said. a joint communiqué, which does not specify a date for the start of talks in Cuba.
In this sense, they announced that “the third cycle will begin after a pause after the closing of the sessions that are currently taking place in Mexico City, and that have produced substantial advances in the agenda of the talks.”
During the talks in the Mexican capital, the key point has been to work to reach an agreement for a ceasefire by both parties, but mechanisms for the participation of society in the construction of peace have also been discussed.
It is expected that this Friday the delegations of the Government of Colombia and the ELN guerrilla will release a joint communiqué at the end of the cycle in Mexico City where they will present the achievements.
In Cuba they seek to continue advancing
In an interview with EFE last Friday, the ELN’s chief negotiator, Pablo Beltrán, stressed that “confidence levels” had risen between both parties, but he was cautious about agreeing to a bilateral ceasefire.
“We aspire that in this cycle in Mexico we can at least mend the essence of what a ceasefire is. Not just an agreement, but the idea that each party put on the table what the essential elements are, and on that have a first package of consensus,” Beltrán said.
Negotiations between the Colombian government and the ELN, which were interrupted for four years after starting in 2017, resumed in Caracas in 2022 under the auspices of Cuba, Norway and Venezuela as guarantor countries.
Mexico, together with Venezuela, Chile, Norway and Brazil are guarantors of the peace talks, while Sweden, Germany, Switzerland and Spain act as accompanying countries.
